Fireplace heater attachment



Ap 9, 1940; w. r. HARRIS FIREPLACE HEATER ATTACHMENT Filed March 6; 1939 INVENTOR. WILL/am 7. Hamw ma/JXMQQ.

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Apr.9 1 94O I I. --2,196,79 I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FIREPLACE HEATER ATTACHMENT William T. Harris, Bellingham, Wash. Application -March 6, 1939, Serial No. 260,197 r 4 Claims. (01. 126121) My invention relates to attachments for jfireheated by thefireplace. The inlet grills M are places for heating'the air of the room and auglocated in upright hollow members I5 located on menting the heat radiated by'the usual fireeither or both sides of the fireplace ill. The place. members l5 may be formed integral with the 5' An object of my invention is" toprovide a defireplace structure as shown or' they may be sep- 5' vice of this type which is readily applied to and arate elements which are attached thereto after removed from a fireplace. I r the fireplace has been built; The upper ends of A further object is to provide-such a device themembers l5 are formed to pr'ovide'inwardly which will not injure the brick work of the firedirected openings I6 which discharge cold air place and/or chimney by the expansion and conthrough opening 2i in a heating chamber 20 in 10 traction thereof in use. I the fireplace. The heating chamber 20 is re- A further object isto provide a novel combined movably supported in the fireplace upon frame air heater and damper for a fireplace. members [8 which are attached to the fire- A further object is to provide an air heater for bricks l9 of the fireplace ID. The heating chama fireplace providing a rearwardly located smoke her may be loosely supported upon the frame 15 passage, a downwardly and rearwardly sloping '18 to facilitate the ready removalof the cham- 3 surface on said heater, and. a damper "slidable her from the fireplace or, the heating chamber by gravity on said surface and normally'closing may be attachedto the frame work in' any suitsaid smoke passage. able manner (not shown). v

20 Other objects and advantages reside in the The heating chamber 2;!) comprises a-rectangu- 90' particular structure of the device, combination lar box-like structure shaped like a paralleloand arrangement of the several parts thereof, gram in side elevation. However, it is obvious and in the particular manner of operation, all of that the shape of the heating chamber will Vary which will be readily apparent to those. skilled in accordance with the shape of the fireplace to in the art upon reference to the drawing in conwhich it is applied. However, it is believed to 26 nection with the following detailed description. be important that the lower surface" thereof slope In the drawing: upwardly toward the rear ofthe-fireplace, as Figure 1 is an elevation of the fireplace to shown, to facilitate the free flow of the products 7 which my device is attached; of combustion rearwardly and upwardly-around 30 Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof; the heating chamber to the chimney as indicated 30 Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on a plane by arrows in Figure 5. The top of the heating corresponding to line 33 of Figure 5; chamber 20 is formed to provide openings 22 Figure 4 is a vertical section taken on a plane therethrough at the inner end'thereof. corresponding to the line 4-4 of Figure 5; Suitable reinforcing angle irons in the heat Figure 5 is a horizontal section taken on the ing chamber reinforce the same to prevent the 35 line 5--5 of Figure 1; steel body thereof from being warped out of Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken on the Shape by the heat of the fire. If desired, the line 6--6 of Figure 3; I conduits23 may be similarly reinforced by angle Figure 7 is a vertical section taken on the line irons 24. 40 '!7 of Figure 4; The top of the heating chamber 20 mounts at 40 Figure 8 is a vertical section illustrating a least one upwardly slanting conduit 23 which modification. connects one of the openings ZZ-of the chamber In the drawing, wherein like reference char- 20 with one of the outlet openings l3. actors have been used throughout to designate As shown in the drawing two inlet openings 46 like parts, ll] designates generally a conventional l4, conduits I 5, openings l6, 2!, 22, conduits 23 45, fireplace, 20 indicates a heating chamber, H inand outlet openings 13 are provided. However, dicates a damper slidable thereon to close a one of each or more than two may be used if smoke passage 25, and I2 indicates any suitable desired. I p v actuating means forthe damper. While I have The damper II is slidably mounted-on top of 60 shown a particular form of fireplace, it is obvithe conduits 23 and is actuated by gravity to 50- ous that this is merely a conventional form and close the smoke passage 25 of the fireplace. The

can be replaced by any other well known strucflexible means l2 of the damper permits-it to ture. The reference characters l3 and I4 reprebe retracted to open the smoke passage. sent respectively outlet and inlet grills covering It is to be noted that the heating chamber 20 56 the outlet and inlet passages for the air to be and its appurtenances do not have to be tight- 5:5

1y fitted into the fire-place but may rest loosely on the support l8. This permits ready expansion of the heating chamber without damage to itself or to the fireplace lining.

It is to be noted also that the passage of air through the heater is ever in an upward direction throughout and that in each of the conduits i5, chamber 26 and conduits 23, the fiow of air is free and unobstructed and in a straight line'and it is not obstructed by baflies or other flow retarding means.

Figure 8 illustrates a modification wherein the parts I and 20 are identical to the preferred form but in which a conduit 21 has been substituted for the conduit 23 and leads to an upstairs room instead of to the: room in which the fireplace is located. This structure permits the same uninterrupted upward fiow of the air and as the conduit 2'! is in contact with the products of combustion throughout its extent, there is no cooling of the air after it leaves chamber 20 In both forms of the invention the heating chamber 20 if formed of sheet steel or other suitable metal formed into a one piece structure. The outlet conduits 23 are similarly formed and are preferably made integral with the chamber 2,0. However, they may be detachably connected thereto if desired.

While I have shown and described what is now thought to be a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is understood that the drawing and foregoing description is illustrative only except.

as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. An air heater for a fireplace, comprising a quadrilateral heating chamber having parallel top and bottom walls, means mounting said chamber in the upper forward part of a fireplace with said bottom sloping upwardly toward the rear of said fireplace and terminating short thereof to provide a smoke passage therebetween, at least one air inlet opening in said chamber adjacent the lowest point thereof, at least one air outlet opening at the highest point thereof, at least one forwardly and upwardly sloping conduit leading fromsaid outlet opening to a point outwardly of said fireplace, a damper slidable on the upper surface of said conduit and normally closing said smoke passage, and means outwardly of said fireplace for retracting said damper to open said smoke passage.

2. An air heater for a fireplace, comprising a heating chamber, means mounting said chamber in a fireplace, air inlet and outlet means for said chamber, said chamber providing a smoke passage in said fireplace rearwardly of said chamber, said chamber providing a downwardly sloping upper surface, and a damper slidable on said surface and adapted to close said smoke passage.

3. An air heater for fireplaces comprising, a casing providing a heating chamber having separate air inlet and outlet openings, the inlet openings being disposed in a plane below that of the outlet openings and the latter discharging into the room, a fireplace wall-carried supporting frame for said casing and upon which the latter is freely supported, said supporting frame slanting upwardly and rearwardly from the front wall of the fireplace whereby to dispose said casing against 'said front wall with the casing bottom slanting upwardly and rearwardly therefrom to deflect theproducts of combustion rearwardly, and conduit means supplying air to said inlets from apoint adjacent the floor.

4. An air heater, for fireplaces comprising, a casing providing a heating chamber having separate air inlet and outlet openings, the" inlet openings being disposed in a plane below that of the outlet openings and the latter discharging into the room, a fireplace wall-carried supporting frame slanting upwardly and rearwardly from the front wall of the fireplace and upon which frame said casing is freely supported with its bottom slanting upwardly and rearwardly to deflect products of combustion toward the rear of the fireplace, the width of said casing approximating the 'width of the fireplace and the air inlet openings being in the ends of said casing, and air supply conduits having outlets registering with said casing inlet openings when the casing is disposed against the fireplace front Wall as aforementioned.

WILLIAM T. HARRIS. 

